Managing Business Projects: Call Centre Relocation

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Background Information

Organizations exist in rapidly changing environment. Therefore, they must always take measures to ensure that they maintain their competitive edge in their operating environment. Organizations strive to reduce their operating costs and improve quality of their products to maintain their competitive edge. They should ensure that their locations does not have a negative effect on their efficiency or reputation (Shelly, Cashman & Rosenblatt, 2009, p. 26).

Growth of Sekoorb Insurance call centre business led to congestion of office space. Growth of the business of the call center necessitated the company to hire more employees. Congestion of the organization has reduced its efficiency. Therefore, it is vital for the company to relocate. However, the company is unwilling to spend huge sums of money on relocation.

In addition, the company would not like the relocation to affect its productivity. This are some of the major issues that the project plan would strive to address. Internal labor would help in reducing the cost of the relocation. In addition, it would provide the company with people who are conversant with the company. Internal labor would also help in carrying tests to determine the duration of relocation.

Project Approach

The project approach would determine the ultimate efficiency of a project. Project approach determines the innovativeness of project managers (Holland, Gastron & Gomes, 2000, p. 233). The project will first determine the amount of time it takes internal employees to relocate a cell unit. This information will help in determining the number of employees that the company would use for relocation.

In addition, it would help in determine how much work companies contracted for relocation should perform. This strategy would help in reducing the amount of time that the company would take to relocate to the new office. In addition, it would help in reducing the cost of the relocation.

Goals and Objectives

Business goals and objectives

The project would strive to fulfil several business goals of the company. These include:

Increase the efficiency of the company
Improve the sharing of the information between various units
Reduce congestion

Project goals and objectives

The project will strive to fulfill various goals and objectives. These include:

Reduce breakages of office during relocation
Reduce loss of documents during relocation
Reduce the cost of relocation
Reduce the effect of relocation on the productivity of the company

Scope

Scope Definition

The project will lead to the relocation of 78 staff of the company to a new location. The company houses its staff in open offices. The staff work in cells 13 cells which hold 6 people each. The cells are in different locations of the company’s building. Six cells are on the 4^th floor of the building. The other seven cells were in different lower floors of the building.

The company would also relocate the director’s offices. The location of the directors would require more time. His office has more things to relocate. In addition, he would mind about things that would not bother normal staff. Therefore, it is vital to undertake the relocation of the director’s office separately.

Project Budget

It is vital for a project to have a realistic budget. In most instances, the cost of implementation of a project may exceed its initial budget. Therefore, it is vital for the company to have funds that may help in implementing the projects if it exceeds its initial budget (Meredith & Mantel, 2011, p. 297). The company would require £12,009 to relocate to the new location. The company would use most of these funds to pay for labor. In addition, the company would use £5,000 to cater for contingencies.

Items beyond the Scope of the Project

Connection of the communication systems of the company would be beyond the scope of the project. The IT department would ensure the reconnection of the systems of the company after the relocation.

Risk assessment

Relocation would expose the company to several risks. During relocation, there may be breakages of office equipment. These breakages may affect the ability of employees to perform effectively. Therefore, it is vital for the project manager to ensure that there are minimal breakages.

It is impossible for company to retain its office design after the relocation. Therefore, there may be remodeling of the office design. The new office design should be similar to the previous office design. This would ensure that office design does not affect the efficiency and productivity of the company.

Loss of documents during relocation is common. It is vital for a company to ensure they do not lose vital documents during relocation. The company would undertake relocation of various components of the units cells wholly.

Assumptions

It is impossible for a project management team to determine how they would undertake a project to a high degree of accuracy. During the project, several unforeseen circumstances may occur. These may improve or reduce the efficient implementation of the project (Gido & Clements, 2008, p. 72). The relocation project assumes that it would take the company the same amount of time to relocate people who are in various floors of the company’s building.

The project assumes that all cells are similar. However, in reality cells may have different modifications. In addition, the volume of material that different employees may possess may be different. The project used the time it took to relocate the security, and health and safety staff in determine the time that it would take to relocate other cells.

In so doing, the company assumed that staff who would take part in the relocation would face conditions that are similar to those of the staff who relocated earlier. However, the reality may be different. The company also assumed that the internal IT technician would be able to reconnect the telephone and computer within one day. The technician claims that he can reconnect 10 workstations in one hour. However, it is a fact that certain unforeseen circumstances may increase the time it takes the technician to reconnect workstations.

Project constraints

Lack of a reliable staff during relocation is one of the major constraints of the project. Employees of the organization may not know how to handle various problems that may occur during relocation. The project has limited funding. The company strives to reduce the costs of relocation.

Therefore, there would be limited involvement of external parties in the relocation. The hire would not hire external parties that specialize in relocations. This may reduce efficient implementation of the project.

Critical Project Barriers

Critical project barriers are certain issues that may be destructive to the project implementation. Therefore, these issues may render the project plan invalid. Removal of the funding of the project would make it impossible to implement the project (Knutson & Bitz, 1991, p. 55). In addition, occurrence of natural disasters may make it impossible to implement the project (McGhee & McAliney, 2007, p. 10). Therefore, the project assumes that critical project barriers would not hinder its implementation.

Project Needs

Personnel

Internal labor would a critical component of the project. Employees who work under Eric would provide labor for the project. In addition, employees from other areas would help in the relocation of the company. The employees are conversant with the workings of the company. Therefore, they would help in designing the new company offices.

In addition, it easy to supervise employees of the company. This would help in improving the efficiency of the implementation process. One of the major limitations of internal labor is the fact that internal employees may not have the necessary skills for relocation.

The company would hire Wools Transport to help in the relocation. Wools Transport have expertise in relocation. The company has a very good reputation. The costs of relocation per cells using Wools Transport is almost equal to the costs of using internal employees in the relocation.

Office Equipment

The project would require the company to purchase new furniture. The manufacturer would fit the new furniture in the new office. The new furniture would be equal to the company standard. This would ensure that the company maintains its image. The office equipment would enable the company to fit in the new equipment into the new office space efficiently. Purchase of new office equipment is one of the most expensive undertaking of the project.

Vans

The company would use its two Ford “Connect” vans in relocation. These vans would complement the work of Wools Transport’s vans. Using company vans would greatly reduce the overall cost of relocation.

Communications Plan

Dissemination of knowledge on a project is vital in any project. It is vital for various parties to know how the project would affect them. Educating employees about the scope and progress of a project increases their participation in the project.

The audience of the project would include:

Staff of the company
Employees of the company who work under Eric.

Employees would be the major audience of the project. The employees would receive e-mails that would detail how they should help in the relocation. Office administrators, security, cleaners, caretakers, and warehouse staff are the employees who work under Eric, the Head House Administrator. These employees would help in the relocation. The company would involve these parties in project planning.

Communications Methodology

The company would use a bottom-down communications approach. This is one of the most efficient communications strategies. It ensures that the participants of a project feel that the project the project has the support of the executives of the company (Kerzner, 2002, p. 116). It is vital for the leadership of an organization to agree on various aspects of the project. This would portray that the project has the support of the leadership of the organization.

The managers and sectional leaders of the company would help in communicating information that is relevant to the research. Sectional leaders would play a critical role in the project. This is due to the fact that they are in direct contact with the employees.

Therefore, they can communicate using methods that the employees would comprehend easily. Sectional leaders would help in determining how employees should arrange their documents. In addition, the sectional heads and managers would help in supervision of employees during relocation (Wesland, 2007, p. 88).

Communications Outreach

The communications outreach determine the efficiency of the There would be two meetings with employees of the company to lay down the procedures required in relocation. These meetings would help in determining documents that the employees should safeguard during the relocation. The first meeting would highlight the importance of relocation.

Employees of the company should ensure that relocation does not affect their productivity (Levine, 2002, p. 57). Employees of the company would air their views on the design of the new office. The second meeting would focus on how customers should arrange their documents during relocation. Sectional leaders would help in determining how employees should arrange various documents.

During the meeting, the project implementation team would allocate various work to employees. Therefore, the second meeting would play a critical part in the efficiency of the project. The company would also hold a meeting with the external parties that would help in relocation. Wools Transport would provide labor for the relocation. The meetings with representatives of Wools Transport would provide detail on the allocation of work during relocation.

This would help in creating synergy between the work of the company and Wools Transport. During the meeting, the company would introduce various senior employees who would help in relocation. Wools Transport would help in determining the equipment that the company may need for relocation. Therefore, it is vital for the company to consider the recommendations of Wools Transport.

Implementation

The company should relocate the director’s office on Saturday evening. In addition, the company should relocate a few work stations that are in the 4^th floor of the company building. This would enable the company to tackle the hardest process of relocation. Therefore, relocation of the first cell and director’s office would act as a dry run. Dry runs show the real-life implementation of a project (Wernham, 2012, p. 123).

The company would use both internal and external labor in the relocation. The company would use 15 employees from the warehouse department. The company pays employees £25 per hour. The company would pay the employees £31.25 to work on Saturday. The company would pay employees £37.5 per hour to work on Saturdays. However, the company would pay house administrators £43.75 per hour to work on Saturday.

The house administrators would receive £52.5 per hour to work of Sunday. The company would perform most of the work on Sundays. There is less congestion on Sunday. The company would have performed some of the work on the Saturday. This would enable it to determine potential problems that may occur. However, the effect of the problem would be minimal since employees would do very little work Saturday.

Occurrence of these problems would enable the company to solve them at an early stage. This would avoid replication of the problem on Sunday, when there is massive relocation of various office equipment. One of the major limitation of undertaking most of the work on Sunday is the fact that employees would demand higher overtime.

However, the increased efficiency of the relocation process warrants the company to incur the additional expenses. Sectional leaders and managers would supervise the process of relocation. Sectional leaders understand various attributes of the model of the new office that may affect the productivity and efficiency of the company. In addition, they may help in solving various issues that may arise during relocation.

Conclusion

The implementation of the project plan would cost the company approximately half of what it pay to outsource the service. This would save the company thousands of pounds. However, project implementation may face several unforeseen problems. The project plan strives to determine and solve some of the problems that may occur during project implementation.

References

Gido, J, & Clements, JP 2008, Successful project management, Cengage Learning, Belmont, CA.

Holland, S, Gastron, K & Gomes, J 2000, Critical success factors for cross-functional teamwork in new product development. International Journal of Management Reviews, vol.2 no. 3, pp. 231-259.

Kerzner, HR 2002, Strategic planning for project management using a project management maturity model, John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, NJ.

Knutson, J & Bitz, I 1991, Project management: how to plan and manage successful projects, AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn, New York.

Levine, HA 2002, Practical project management: Tips, tactics, and tools, John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, NJ.

McGhee, P & McAliney P 2007, Painless project management: A step-by-step guide for planning, executing, and managing projects, John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, NJ.

Meredith, JR, Mantel, SJ 2011, Project management: A managerial approach, John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, NJ.

Shelly, GB, Cashman, TJ & Rosenblatt, HJ 2009, Systems analysis and design, Cengage Learning, Belmont, CA.

Wernham, B, 2012, Agile project management for government, Maitland and Strong, London.

Wesland, J 2007, The project management life cycle: A complete step-by-step methodology for initiating, planning, executing and closing a project successfully, Kogan Page Publishers, London.

Appendix

Report on Relocation

Packing cell, moving contents of cell onto a van, moving van to new location and offloading van to new cell are the major activities that would take place during relocation. Simulation of the process of relocation shows that it would take 274 man minutes to move the contents one a cell to a new cell. The company would require the movement of 3 cells. Therefore, it requires 3,562 man minutes to relocate all cells.

On Saturday, the company would relocate the director’s office and 1 cell from the 4th floor of the company’s building. This would enable the company to determine potential problems that it may face the next day when there is massive relocation. Movement of one cell would require 274 man minutes. The company should use its vans to relocate these cell.

On Sunday, the company would relocate 12 cells. Relocation of 12 cells requires 3,288 man minutes. However, the same staff member should undertake packing and unpacking of the cells. This would enable the staff to remember the unique contents of the cells. This would enable them to relocate the contents of the cells in exactly the same way.

If there is loss or damage of the content of the cells, the company may hold the employee accountable. Therefore, this strategy would help in tracing the contents of the cells. However, this strategy would increase the inefficiency of the process of relocation. The company would use 12 employees from the warehouse department to relocate the cells. These employees may not perform any other work.

The company would hire 2 small vans from Wools Transport to help in relocation. This would require the company to hire two employees to drive the vans. Wools Transport would help in the relocation. Therefore, the vans would make 3 trips to relocate the whole company. Other employees would help in performing other duties during relocation.

Therefore, all employees should be able to perform various duties efficiently. The project assumes that all employees have equal productivity. To ensure that the relocation progresses seamlessly, the company would ensure that vans depart at different times.

This would ensure that there is no congestion during loading and offloading of the contents of different cells. House administrators would also supervise the loading and offloading personally. Different departure time of the vans would enable the sectional managers to supervision the relocation more effectively.

Costs Breakdown

The employees of the company would work for 4 hours on Saturday. On Sunday, the employees would work for 8 hours.

Cost of hiring employees on Saturday = 4x12x31.25 = £1,500

Cost of hiring 3 office administrators on Saturday = 4x3x43.75 = £525

Cost of hiring employees on Sunday = 8x12x37.5 =

£3600

Cost of hiring three office administrators on Sunday = 8x3x52.5 = £1,260

Cost of hiring 2 vans from Wools Transport = 2×100 =

£200

Cost of hiring one employee from Wools Transport = (24×8)+20 = £212

Cost of hiring 2 employees @ £212 =

£424

Contingencies

= £5000

Total

= £12,009

Therefore, the company would spend approximately £12,000 for relocation. This value is significantly lower than the value that the company would have spent if it hired professional companies. Therefore, the project plan is feasible.

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